Gimlet Mops Up
Gimlet Mops Up, by W. E. Johns was published in October 1947 by Brockhampton. It was the fourth Gimlet book and the second to deal with his post war adventures. The events in the book take place in Britain in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The plotline also contains a prominent and very early appearance of Biggles and Ginger in their Special Air Police role. The Special Air Police had only been set up in Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D. published barely two months before. French publisher Aredit adapted the story for their King comic series in two parts, the first part being King et les loups-garous, published in August 1969. Synopsis Gimlet and his team are called in to deal with a gang of Werewolves, ex-Nazis for whom the war never ended. The Werewolves deliver death threats to British officers who played a prominent role in the Second World War, kidnap them, and then execute them after a mock trial. Gimlet doesn't hesitate--after all, he has received one such threat himself. Plot Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book Characters *Gimlet *"Copper" Collson *"Trapper" Troublay *"Cub" Peters *General Sir Saxon Craig *Biggles *Ginger *Freddie Ashton *Tom Lench *Hugo Stresser *Karl von Runtz *Dr Guthram Paul *Karl - one of the only Werewolves to be addressed by name. He was in the boathouse at "Objective A". Aircraft *Aircraft of the Special Air Police used for surveillance. The type is not specified but the Auster J1 Autocrat would have been eminently suitable. Ships Places Visited *London **Brummel Square **Europa Hotel, Piccadily **Tabernacle of St. Barnaby in the East off Whitechapel Road **Vauxhall Bridge *Sussex **Wongerford Manor **Caterham Valley **Blindley Heath **Purley *Norfolk **Reedsholm **Grimston Broad Mentioned Research Notes Chronology *The text states clearly on page 9 that it is November 1946. The Special Air Police *This is only the second book which mentions the Special Air Police, the first being Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D., published barely two months earlier. Here, Biggles may not even have embarked on his Second Case. Yet by this time, the Air Police seems to be more established than the temporary nature of C.I.D. would lead one to suppose. The S.A.P. already had a fleet of aircraft, all equipped with radio and cameras. The types are not mentioned, but going by the missions they were conducting, could well have been the Auster J1 Autocrat. *The plot here shows that at this early stage, Johns was already thinking of a wider role for the S.A.P. Going beyond chasing international criminals who were taking advantage of long range air transport (C.I.D. and Hunts Big Game) or hiding in remote corners of the globe (Second Case), Johns also foresaw that the S.A.P. would be helping domestic police in matters such as following a car from the air. These themes would not be developed until 1950 in Biggles Air Detective. *In fact, General Craig says more about the potential of the S.A.P. than Raymond or Biggles did. "There is a great future in the Special Air Police. When Bigglesworth gets the thing properly organized, crooks are going to find it much harder to get away with it." Editions References External Links Category:Books Category:Gimlet books